nses, Frobisher
pulled it still wider open, and a moment later was able to look out into
the corridor. There was an antiquated oil lantern hanging at the foot
of the stone stairway, placed there for the jailer's convenience, and by
its light the prisoner was able to see that the corridor was empty.
Then the incident of the door was no trick, after all, and the man had
really suffered a lapse of memory. Twenty-four hours would elapse
before he returned, and Frobisher's absence was discovered, and the
latter hoped by that time to be far away, if he could but find some mode
of escaping undetected from the building. The first and most serious
obstacle in the way, the cell door, was overcome; now to find whether
his luck would still hold, and if he could find another unguarded gate
leading to freedom.

First of all, however, he must have some covering for his feet. He knew
that he could not walk far barefooted over rough ground; and, if pursued
under such circumstances, capture would be certain and speedy. He
therefore removed his shirt and undervest, and tearing them into strips,
he swathed the wrappings round his feet somewhat after the manner
followed by the Spanish mountaineers. This done, he next had to
ascertain whether the remaining doors between himself and freedom were
locked or unlocked.

The first door he came to was the one at the foot of the stairs, and, as
might have been expected, this was closed; but it was not locked. The
pirates had clearly pinned their faith on the stanchness of the cell
door. Close to this, in the opposite wall of the passage, were the
other doors which Frobisher had observed when being conducted to his
prison; and it was through one of these that he must pass if he was to
escape at all. The passage itself, he remembered, simply communicated
with the main building of the fort, and to travel by that path was
tantamount to running into the arms of his captors.

With infinite care he tried the latch of the door on the left. It was
locked.

Then he turned the handle of the door on the right. That also was
locked; and his heart sank at the thought of the tremendous amount of
labour that would be needed to overcome this obstacle--if it were
possible to overcome it at all, of which he was more than doubtful.

While he was considering what to do first, his eye caught a faint
glimmer of light shining on something on the wall, and he eagerly
stretched out his hand to it. As he tou